Shaman King: Beginnings
by Empress Oriana
Summary: Every 500 years or so, a tournament is held to commemorate and dub a new Shaman King. For shamans, it is matter of life and death, peace or destruction, and whether they will have a savior.. or a harbinger of impending doom. Yoh and his friends are involved in this fight, but will it be enough to defeat the challenges that await? And what of these new shaman they will meet? OCs!
1. Prologue

**After another couple months of not writing anything, I've been debating as to what to exactly write about. I've had multiple story ideas in my head, but I couldn't decide. Once one idea appears, the other leaves just as quickly or just becomes dormant in a storage file in my mind. I also heard that FanFiction here have some issues going on with some of their stories and are thus deleting them. Do me a favor, and leave me out of it. I'm just as innocent as any other writer out there who merely wants to express her own creativity. So yeah, go BS somewhere else. Other than that, I am done ranting. I decided (along with a friend of mine) to do a story on Shaman King. This story won't be like other Shaman King stories out there, so I hope you guys will enjoy this one I have in store.**

* * *

_Prologue_

_Life. The essence of all that moves, that breathes, that inherits all within the Earth and its majestic beauty. It's not just the things that breathe that endure life and possess it; nature is what keeps life in motion. The Great Spirit is what keeps all life coming and going. Since the beginning of time, The Great Spirit has been the almighty entity that embodies all within its core. It is what brings life, as well as what takes life away. In such creations, humans have been given the sole rank of superiority above other forms of life, but still remain under The Great Spirit's mercy. _

_Humans back then were aware and were one with all other life, especially The Great Spirit itself. But as years, decades, and centuries passed, humans began to become more and more selfish and greedy, and in time, have forgotten about The Great Spirit and lost respect for it. This in turn resulted in humans forgetting about the boundaries between life and death, completely ignoring the existence of other spirits and ghosts. This also resulted in humans desecrating and polluting all that The Great Spirit ever stood for. That's when it happened. All spiritually connected living beings have then decided that to maintain order, a king must stand above all, one that will rule over all existence; both the living and the dead. _

_For years, these spiritual humans have sought to keep that order in balance, thus coming forth the birth for a Shaman King. However, where the apple grows ripe and sweet in the tree, snakes lay hidden among them on the branches. Humans decided to take charge and created their own hell, enveloped with greed, pride, and committing atrocious actions towards one another. One of them fell victim to the madness and was an innocent bystander, who soon became a powerful being that many came to fear. He sees all and knows all without even blinking an eye. He deceives and manipulates. He creates… and eventually destroys with no mercy. His name was Hao. _

_Some spiritually tune humans were aware of this being and have grown to fear him. Then one day, he was gone, believed to have disappeared for good. However, only very few knew the truth: he wasn't gone. He would return and seek the opportunity once again to rule over and destroy all living life as punishment for his suffering. He sought to become the next Shaman King and become one with The Great Spirit itself. Clans and tribes of powerful families of shamans then were left with no choice but to fight back, to maintain the balance and keep it from falling into the hands of evil as it almost did once before. They held a tournament every five hundred years to maintain that balance and as a means to decide who would become the next Shaman King. Though it is a dangerous gamble, it was a risk they were all willing to take. _

_Thus, they trained, gathering their most strongest and willing people to prepare and conquer. These shamans also gained a variety of abilities and vast amounts of power. They even chose spirits to ally with them in battle. These spirits can range from that of nature, deceased humans, demons, demigods, and even the gods themselves. For each higher ranking spirit comes greater the power and strength to defeat… or even possibly help Hao in the race and title for Shaman King. Some tournaments have already occurred, and lead to no avail in defeating Hao for good. As another possibility lies for him to be born into the world once more, the tribes, clans, and families of many powerful shaman prepare once more, hoping to put an end to the now fearful madness and keep Armageddon from happening to all.  
_

_Thus begins our story of how we all became involved in the mess of it all, and how we were the few of the many who so happen to have been involved in this tournament for the next Shaman King._


	2. 1 - Strange New Faces

**Back with another chapter of 'Shaman King: Beginnings'! Yeah, the prologue seemed pretty bleh, but this one will be better, I promise you! ****  
Relax and enjoy! I DO NOT OWN SHAMAN KING. ONLY MY OCs. My friend owns her own OCs respectively.**

* * *

"Yoh! Hurry up or we're gonna be late for class!" Manta hollered from the front gate of the abandoned inn. Tapping his foot with impatience, he sighed and muttered under his breath, "This is great. We're almost always late because of him taking his time." Manta shook his head and grinned nonchalantly in defeat. Hearing the sound of rushing sandals hitting the pavement caused Manta to snap his head up in alarm. There standing was his best friend, Yoh Asakura. "Hey. Sorry, Manta. Anna had me do some exercises this morning as a part of my shaman training."

Manta shrugged, "I figured as much." He looked down and squealed in dismay. "Yoh, school's about to begin soon! We got to go now if we're going to make it!" Out of nowhere from behind Yoh, stood a slender blonde girl, wearing a similar school uniform to both Yoh's and Manta's, with the exception that she wore a skirt. Her hazel eyes pierced at both boys with a sharp glare, her frown not the friendlier either. "Shut up, Manta. We'll make it in time for class, so keep your voice down. I don't want Ryu and his gang offering up on motorcycle rides to school again." Manta shrank back at her bold statement, a bead of sweat running down his brow. "But Anna..!"

Yoh grinned lazily. "She's right, Manta. There's no need for a major rush. We'll just head on over right now. We can walk while we're at it."

Manta couldn't believe his ears. However, he knew that just arguing back will result in fruitless victory and a hard slap in the face by the fierce Itako.

After only meeting Yoh within a few short weeks, Manta had become a close ally and friend to Yoh, and upon meeting the shaman's fiancée, well.. It definitely changed the young human boy's life.

"Master Yoh, surely you don't think you'll be arriving late if you just merely walk? It does take quite a while for you to arrive to your school, after all." Another voice spoke up, almost in a resituating echo. The three continued to walk down the sidewalk as a ghost of a samurai appeared behind them. Yoh smiled at the spirit that followed them. "Don't worry, Amidamaru. You have to remember that we have daylight savings now, so we'll be on time." Manta's jaw nearly fell to the ground. He completely forgot about daylight savings. Then again, he should have already noticed the seasons changing and the temperature getting colder. **  
**

After a couple minutes of walking, they were finally arriving to their destination. Manta felt content as his looked down at his watch, checking the time. It was still pretty early, but it wasn't just the fact that they made it to the school ahead of time. He smiled at the entire aspect of what he went through so far in his life. He was always alone and focused on his studies. Then when he met Yoh that fateful night at the graveyard on the hill, his entire life changed from that point on.

It wasn't until a few weeks ago that they found out about the tournament to decide the next future Shaman King. It was all hard to grasp at first, but it was at the same time exciting and exhilarating. Manta's head was spinning. There were still so many questions that he had about the entirety of it: the tournament, the title for Shaman King, and of course, the fact that there's other shaman out there fighting for such a title.

"Master Manta, are you alright? You seem worried." The deep voice of Amidamaru woke him from his deep thinking. He looked up to see the samurai ghost, Yoh and Anna looking at him with concerned looks. Manta jumped slightly and laughed weakly. "It's nothing much. Just, well… How will we know when they will announce this tournament? Are there any rules? Just how many shamans are there that will be there?"

Yoh chuckled. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! One step at a time, Manta! We really can't say for sure. However, I think we'll know when the time comes, which is bound to be soon. Isn't that right, Anna?" The Itako nodded, her placid neutral scowl not faltering. "Don't forget, Yoh. I'm here as a result that you need the training necessary to become Shaman King." The males all gave a nervous laugh. Yoh rubbed the back of his head bashfully. "Yeah, so you have told us."

Anna turned and started making her way into the school. "Let's get inside. The cold air is getting annoying." All the males nodded and followed suit. Yoh grinned over at Manta as Amidamaru bade them farewell and floated upwards towards the roof of the school to wait for them to leave home. As they entered the classroom and took their seats, they noticed that within a few minutes, the other students began entering as well. It wasn't until when the teacher arrived that Anna perked her head up and her glare became far more intense. A student followed suit behind the teacher, as the old man cleared his throat to gain the class' attention. "Well, good morning. First off, I would like to announce that you will all have a test coming up soon by the end of this week." Everyone except Manta, Anna, and Yoh groaned and complained. The old man cleared his throat again once more. "Also, I would like to introduce a new student that will be joining us in our class. This is Yuniko Devlin. She is from the Shinto region and is a little different from all of us, so please do make her feel welcome."

In front of the class stood a girl, around the same age and height as Yoh and Anna, with shoulder length orange hair with ends pointed outwards and deep violet eyes. She wore the same uniform as Anna and held onto her brown schoolbag, smiling brightly at the entire class. Manta noticed that she looked somewhat foreign, aside from the guys almost drooling at the sight of her. There was also the mention of her last name. Although her first name is Japanese, the surname was definitely not from the Shinto region whatsoever.

Anna narrowed her eyes slightly. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was definitely something about that girl she didn't feel easy about. Yoh, on the other hand, stared blankly at her for a good while before breaking into a grin. Manta took a quick glance over at Yoh then at Anna. He sighed in defeat. _'This is going to be a long day…'_, he thought to himself, despite that he still felt an odd presence about the new girl.

* * *

As the day went by, Manta only seemed to grow more and more curious about the new girl. Before the bell rang for the end of the day, he bravely asked, "Hey Anna, is it me, or do you feel something weird about that girl?"

Anna looked down over at Manta as she got her books packed into her bag. "I can't say, though I do find it strange that a girl of her caliber is from the Shinto region."

Manta snapped up and gawked. "Wh-what do you mean?" Yoh smiled his carefree smile and laughed lightly. "Come on, Anna. I'm sure she's a nice girl. She seems pretty harmless." Anna's eyes were like daggers as she threw a glare over at her fiancée. "'Seems' is the key term, Yoh. There's definitely something about that girl that doesn't seem right. Besides, didn't you notice or even heard her last name, by chance? Doesn't it seem a bit odd to you?"

Both Yoh and Manta looked at her blankly. Before they could say anything, the bell rang. All the students within the building started making their way out.

Anna then grabbed her bag off her desk and started making her way out of the classroom, with Yoh and Manta following her in tow. As they reached the front gate of the school, all three noticed Yuniko standing right by the gate itself, looking at them with a placid smile on her face. "Oh hey! You three are from my class! I don't think we've been properly introduced. My name is Yuniko Devlin, and you are?"

Yoh gave a friendly smile like always, "Pleased to meet you, Yuniko. My name's Yoh Asakura, and these are my friends Anna and Manta." Yuniko's eyes settled slightly, a tiny gleam shining within the purple irises. "Asakura.. what a unique surname. Then again, mine's no better in being odd, eh?" She cracked a toothy grin at the three teens. Anna stepped in abruptly, her jaw slightly tensing. "Since we're on the subject, just _where_ are you from? Clearly your last name isn't Japanese like ours. Even the name itself speaks something _different_ about you."

Yukino gave a surprised look at the Itako, but quickly relaxed again. "Well, aren't you a stickler for details? Guess you got me there. I'm only half Japanese from my mother's side of the family. The other half is actually from Ireland, which is where my dad and his main blood line are from."

Manta took note of how she worded her statement. "Hold on, you said 'main bloodline'. Just what do you mean by that?" Yuniko glanced over at Manta briefly while smiling, then turned her attention back to Yoh and Anna. "Well, I better get going. I still have homework to do and I certainly don't want to miss my favorite show. How about we become friends? What do you say to that, Yoh?", the orange haired girl asked the young shaman with a bright face.

Yoh was slightly taken aback at the sudden notion, but shrugged. "I suppose so. We'll see. You seem like a good person, so I don't see why not." Anna looked like she was about to make a comment, but was interrupted by Manta. "Yoh, I think we'd better get going as well. We still got homework to do ourselves and I don't want it to get too late that I'll miss the train." Yoh nodded in agreement. The three also caught sight of Amidamaru on the other side of the street, waving over at them contently. Bidding their new classmate farewell, the three teens began making their way towards home, Amidamaru about ready to float behind them. As they made their way across the street and were making their way around the block, Yuniko's eyes widened a bit as she watched them from the gate, only to have her smile grow even wider. "_Interesting_…"

"_What's so interesting, pray tell?"_, a voice eerily echoed behind her. Yuniko ran her hand through her loose hair, giggling slightly. "Oh, come on! You were there! Didn't you see that?" Yuniko glanced back up at the empty street in front of her, her smile not faltering in the slightest. "_The samurai_. Those guys are obviously shaman, just like me! I bet that samurai belongs to that kid, Yoh. Wouldn't you agree?" The voice perked up again, interest lacing every syllable. "_Yes, I believe you are right. He seems to be the type. But there's something that bothers me… That girl…" _Yuniko stretched her arms above her head "You mean Anna? Yeah, I got that vibe too. She's suspicious about me for sure. But I wouldn't worry. After all..", Yuniko grinned a Cheshire grin as the voice began to manifest itself into a visible form of another female, donning a black cloak that looked almost like large black bird wings and wore a black plague mask while wielding a large black scythe. "we're gonna win this shaman tournament and I'll become the next Shaman King, right.. _Morrigan_?"

The spirit behind her lifted a tanned hand and removed her mask, revealing beautifully stunning features, long red hair flowing like crimson blood, and golden eyes that look as if they could pierce through anyone's immortal soul. The spirit grinned, her white teeth and slightly sharp canines gleaming viciously. _"Of course, Mistress."_


End file.
